Hhhmmmm... it kinda seems like the media and public opinion has already given the division to the Angels. I'm not sure I can concede that. I know our offense took a major hit but it wasnt exactly stellar last year and pitching still carried us in the 2nd half. This year we lose Tejada, a major hit I concede, and if we're practical should be thrilled with anything more than, .275AVE 15HR 70RBI 12SB from Crosby, if that much.

We add Mark Redman who any team in baseball would be thrilled to have, have another closing gem in Arthur Rhodes, and hopefully Harden can continue to develop nicely.

We will probably be last years version of the Dodgers staying in contention with a very anemic offense but I dont think Anaheim has become that much of a favorite over us.

Hopefully I'm not over biased as an Oakland fan in saying so.

"Son we would like to keep you around here but were trying to win a pennant this year."

Yes doctor, I am sick.Sick of those who are spineless.Sick of those who feel self-entitled.Sick of those who are hypocrites.Yes doctor, an army is forming.Yes doctor, there will be a war.Yes doctor, there will be blood.....

Sorry Mad, but I dont see how Oakland could finish dead last (or atleast, almost last as you have it). They still have three guys named Mulder, Hudson and Zito. They have the best #4 starter in baseball (Unless the Cubs sign Maddux) and an ace in training in the #5 spot.

Add Damien Miller to the mix and you've got one hot pitching staff.

With that said, I still like Seattle. Great offense (Spiezio & Aurilia will be huge upgrades over Guillen and Cirillo) and great depth in pitching.

Everyone expects Anaheim to do well, so I'm going in another direction.

Sure, Oakland has a great staff, but how many runs are you actually banking on Chavez for? He's a good hitter, but he cannot carry the team all by himself and they have zero other hitters in their lineup.

Add in the loss of the big 3's catcher, and their pitching coach and it adds up to a long year for the A's.

We'll see.

Yes doctor, I am sick.Sick of those who are spineless.Sick of those who feel self-entitled.Sick of those who are hypocrites.Yes doctor, an army is forming.Yes doctor, there will be a war.Yes doctor, there will be blood.....

The loss of the pitching coach does hurt more than most people think I have to admitt.

I dont think the big 3 is too worried about the catcher situation though. Miller is an extremeley pitcher friendly catcher. He caught for the D-Backs when Schilling and RJ finished 1st and 2nd in the cy young voteing. He toiled around in the lowly windy city last year with a few stud pitchers. To hype him up even more he plays hurt alot and provides adequate defense but when he is completely healthy he provides a good bat for a catcher also.

Sir Madison, I bow down to you in . 00000000000000000000009 of a second in terms of general baseball knowledge. To think that Oakland willl slip to 3rd is plausible, but sorry esteemed one, the Rangers have a 25million a year lock on 4th. They wont fight it out with Oakland to take 3rd.

"Son we would like to keep you around here but were trying to win a pennant this year."

Bukoski77 wrote:Sir Madison, I bow down to you in . 00000000000000000000009 of a second in terms of general baseball knowledge. To think that Oakland willl slip to 3rd is plausible, but sorry esteemed one, the Rangers have a 25million a year lock on 4th. They wont fight it out with Oakland to take 3rd.

Lol.

I did say it's a tossup right now. Just depends on if the Rangers pick up a couple of pitchers or if Oakland picks up a couple of bats.

Here's something to consider:

28 games started, 2.84 era, 1.15 whip and only 10 wins.

Yep, that was a major league pitcher last year. To save you the trouble, those are Brandon Webb's numbers with the terrible Diamondbacks lineup behind him last year. Right now, Oakland's lineup is non existant except for Chavez. He's good, but he cannot carry an entire team. Even if he starts to, he will be pitched around. It would not surprise me in the least for the A's to struggle big time next year.

Now if they go get a couple of bats, sure, they will most likely beat my Rangers and contend for the division. The big three are the best in the division. No question about it. They have to get some run support to win games though. Can't pitch a shutout every game.

We'll see how it all plays out.

Yes doctor, I am sick.Sick of those who are spineless.Sick of those who feel self-entitled.Sick of those who are hypocrites.Yes doctor, an army is forming.Yes doctor, there will be a war.Yes doctor, there will be blood.....

i agree with brokentusk i think the mariners will win the west. they have a great lineup of:
1. Ichiro
2. Randy Winn
3. Bret Boone
4. Edgar Martinez
5. John Olerud
6. Raul Ibanez
7. Rich Aurilia
8. Scott Spezio
9. Dan Wilson
and the only player who dosent have a strong bat in that lineup is wilson.. and also there roation isnt half bad with moyer, pineiro, meche, anderson, and i guess garcia. Very young and talented roation there. I am a big mariners fan and I think this is the year they get back in the playoffs!

Yep, that was a major league pitcher last year. To save you the trouble, those are Brandon Webb's numbers with the terrible Diamondbacks lineup behind him last year.

Wow, what a case here. It screams, RANDOM BULLSHIT! Are the DBacks the A's? Of course! That's a great comparison! Then HERE'S something to consider:

2.70 ERA, 16 wins. Oooh, let's play the guessing game. Or not. It's Tim Hudson! So from your impeccable logic this would lead to.. the Oakland offense was 1.6 times better than the 717 runs that Arizona created last year because Hudson got 1.6 times more wins than Webb with the same ERA.

Plenty more flaws that you often find in random bullshit.. but let's go on.

Madison wrote:Right now, Oakland's lineup is non existant except for Chavez. He's good, but he cannot carry an entire team. Even if he starts to, he will be pitched around.

Oakland last year = #1Oakland this year (minus it's "bats", which is essentially anyone that hits for average and home runs, which is Tejada and Hernandez) = CRAP.. #4.. previously occupied by the Rangers

Never mind the superb pitching aquisitions of Redman and Rhodes, the A's need their BATS BACK to become #1!Will Bobby Crosby save the day? No, he's too young, by the time he develops, the Oakland A's will be so used to losing that they'll be smoking crack in the clubhouse.If we took out Tejada and Hernandez' precious home runs and replaced them with two copies of Scott Hattebergs home runs, the Oakland A's would find themselves in a HUGE jam, with only 152 home runs, on par with the world series champions, the Marlins (since we all love random asinine comparisons). Except the Oakland A's are much, much better.

Madison wrote:We'll see how it all plays out.

Madison would love a good gloat at the end of the season if he remembered to do so. Oh, he'd also love to be the GM of the Texas Rangers too, because he's ALL-KNOWING from his laborous posts in an internet forum.

Tell you what Guest. Your IP address identifies you as a member of the Cafe', but I'll play nice here. First letter is "S" just so you know it's not bull like you seem to think.

Anyway, we disagree, no problem. I'm not the only one who thinks that Oakland will finish 3rd at best. Check the threads. Even in the Predictions forum, I'm not the only one.

Rather than attacking me, why not actually put in all that work to make a case as to why Oakland will do well next year? Maybe you can convince me to rank them higher. As to being stubborn, no one has made a case for the A's yet, other than simply "the big 3" and that's not enough for me to say that in my opinion the A's won't finish above the Angels or Mariners.

Yes doctor, I am sick.Sick of those who are spineless.Sick of those who feel self-entitled.Sick of those who are hypocrites.Yes doctor, an army is forming.Yes doctor, there will be a war.Yes doctor, there will be blood.....